1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:22,400 Suspense. 2 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:29,720 Radio's outstanding theater of thrills bring you an hour, a full 60 minutes of suspense. 3 00:00:29,720 --> 00:00:33,240 Produced by Anton M. Lieder and produced by Robert Montgomery. 4 00:00:33,240 --> 00:00:36,640 Tonight, two great suspense dramas. 5 00:00:36,640 --> 00:00:41,640 John Collier's Wet Saturday and W.F. Harvey's August Heat. 6 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:45,180 Performed by two distinguished casts of radio actors. 7 00:00:45,180 --> 00:00:55,360 Two complete stories joined in one hour of suspense. 8 00:00:55,360 --> 00:01:00,080 This is Robert Montgomery with a forecast, a weather forecast. 9 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:04,200 If you doubt my qualifications as a meteorologist, I don't blame you. 10 00:01:04,200 --> 00:01:05,640 I have none. 11 00:01:05,640 --> 00:01:11,160 But I do have more specific information than the chap in Walt Mason's poem, The Statesman. 12 00:01:11,160 --> 00:01:12,760 Perhaps you remember. 13 00:01:12,760 --> 00:01:18,680 The Statesman throws his shoulders back and straightens out his tie and says, my friends, 14 00:01:18,680 --> 00:01:20,920 unless it rains, the weather will be dry. 15 00:01:20,920 --> 00:01:23,400 Yes, I can do much better than that. 16 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:28,360 Even with the same elements, rain and dry weather, I can improve on that forecast. 17 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:32,920 For the next hour, I predict rain, followed by a sudden hot spell. 18 00:01:32,920 --> 00:01:37,660 Further, and you can check me on this, I predict that the rain will fall in the first half 19 00:01:37,660 --> 00:01:42,600 of the hour and that the second half will be given over exclusively to heat. 20 00:01:42,600 --> 00:01:46,520 I guess you could say I predict weather in two acts. 21 00:01:46,520 --> 00:01:47,920 Unusual weather too. 22 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:53,000 A unique combination of wet Saturday and August heat. 23 00:01:53,000 --> 00:01:55,320 Each of these dramas is set in England. 24 00:01:55,320 --> 00:01:57,600 Each is complete in itself. 25 00:01:57,600 --> 00:02:02,440 And each is conditioned by its own weather and by its own suspense. 26 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:07,420 Because these plays exemplify two classic studies in radio suspense drama, we have selected 27 00:02:07,420 --> 00:02:10,200 established radio stars to interpret them. 28 00:02:10,200 --> 00:02:17,120 Dennis Hoey as Mr. Princey in Wet Saturday and Barry Kroger as James Clarence Withencroft 29 00:02:17,120 --> 00:02:22,240 in August Heat with supporting casts of distinguished radio players. 30 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:27,280 Next week when we present the suspense version of the screen drama Night Must Fall, we shall 31 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:30,240 feature a cast of motion picture actors. 32 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:35,960 As Danny, I will be joined by Dame Mae Whitty in her original role of Mrs. Bramson together 33 00:02:35,960 --> 00:02:38,580 with Heather Angel and Richard Nye. 34 00:02:38,580 --> 00:02:43,580 But now to the first half of our show and my prediction for rain. 35 00:02:43,580 --> 00:02:48,760 With the performance of Dennis Hoey as Mr. Princey and with John Collier's English classic 36 00:02:48,760 --> 00:03:07,120 Wet Saturday, we again hope to keep you in suspense. 37 00:03:07,120 --> 00:03:13,640 On this rainy afternoon, we should like you to meet the Princey family and their visitor. 38 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:16,040 They are of course at home. 39 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:22,880 This is Princey, daughter Millicent, George, the son and heir, sprawled on a couch, and 40 00:03:22,880 --> 00:03:27,000 finally Mr. Princey, biting on a dry pipe. 41 00:03:27,000 --> 00:03:30,480 Their living room is dull and overstuffed. 42 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:32,560 Rain beats at the windows. 43 00:03:32,560 --> 00:03:39,640 They are any middle class family at home on a wet day, except for one small item. 44 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:44,440 As you sit with them in the living room, you can see through the door to the sun porch 45 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:50,440 a pair of man's feet encased in black boots. 46 00:03:50,440 --> 00:03:54,600 They look like the feet of a curate. 47 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:56,960 There is a tenseness in the room. 48 00:03:56,960 --> 00:04:11,080 The air is charged with excitement, but the feet are very still. 49 00:04:11,080 --> 00:04:13,960 Don't keep staring at them. 50 00:04:13,960 --> 00:04:16,240 Listen to me, all of you. 51 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:18,240 Don't you see they'd hang her. 52 00:04:18,240 --> 00:04:19,920 That's what they do when they hang her. 53 00:04:19,920 --> 00:04:21,920 Oh Fred, it's too awful. 54 00:04:21,920 --> 00:04:22,920 Awful? 55 00:04:22,920 --> 00:04:23,920 It's catastrophic. 56 00:04:23,920 --> 00:04:29,840 A supposedly sweet, gentle, intelligent girl, respected, loved by the whole village doing 57 00:04:29,840 --> 00:04:30,840 a thing like this. 58 00:04:30,840 --> 00:04:33,640 Think of the publicity, the disgrace. 59 00:04:33,640 --> 00:04:38,320 You think I'm going to resign from the bench, the vestry, sell out, live in some foggy hotel 60 00:04:38,320 --> 00:04:39,320 abroad? 61 00:04:39,320 --> 00:04:40,320 Oh no. 62 00:04:40,320 --> 00:04:41,320 No, I'll kill myself. 63 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:42,320 I will, I will. 64 00:04:42,320 --> 00:04:43,320 Don't be a fool. 65 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,320 Any more than you have been, the governor of Mayhem. 66 00:04:46,320 --> 00:04:47,320 Be quiet. 67 00:04:47,320 --> 00:04:50,200 It wouldn't be so bad if it were you, George. 68 00:04:50,200 --> 00:04:52,920 Everybody in the village knows you're not responsible. 69 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:53,920 George. 70 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:54,920 Yes? 71 00:04:54,920 --> 00:04:55,920 Get off that couch. 72 00:04:55,920 --> 00:04:56,920 Sit up on your spine. 73 00:04:56,920 --> 00:05:00,920 You might be of a little use here, if you could think. 74 00:05:00,920 --> 00:05:04,720 Oh, but I say, governor, this isn't my funeral. 75 00:05:04,720 --> 00:05:06,720 Shut up. 76 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:13,720 As long as I can remember, George, you've been a trial and a tribulation to me. 77 00:05:13,720 --> 00:05:15,120 Oh, I can't stand it. 78 00:05:15,120 --> 00:05:16,120 I can't stand it. 79 00:05:16,120 --> 00:05:18,120 You've got to stand it, my dear. 80 00:05:18,120 --> 00:05:20,600 Keep that hysterical note out of your voice. 81 00:05:20,600 --> 00:05:22,600 Do you hear? 82 00:05:22,600 --> 00:05:23,600 Yes. 83 00:05:23,600 --> 00:05:29,720 We, uh, we are talking about the weather. 84 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:31,720 Now, George. 85 00:05:31,720 --> 00:05:32,720 Hmm? 86 00:05:32,720 --> 00:05:33,720 George. 87 00:05:33,720 --> 00:05:40,880 If he fell down the old well, say, striking his head several times, what about him, hmm? 88 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,160 I really don't know, Governor, what about? 89 00:05:43,160 --> 00:05:44,160 Don't be an ass. 90 00:05:44,160 --> 00:05:45,160 I'm asking you to think. 91 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:55,720 He'd have had to hit the side several times, 30 or 40 feet, and at all the correct angles. 92 00:05:55,720 --> 00:05:57,720 Now, I'm afraid not. 93 00:05:57,720 --> 00:06:00,320 I'm afraid not. 94 00:06:00,320 --> 00:06:02,920 We'll have to go over it all again, Melissa. 95 00:06:02,920 --> 00:06:05,920 Oh, no, Father, no, I couldn't. 96 00:06:05,920 --> 00:06:09,920 Millicent, we must go over it all again. 97 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:11,920 Fred, you're torturing us. 98 00:06:11,920 --> 00:06:16,920 Oh, face facts, Mater, with him lying there, still he's pretending it's a pig. 99 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:18,920 They might hang you, Millicent. 100 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:20,920 Oh, stop that shaking. 101 00:06:20,920 --> 00:06:21,920 Stop it here. 102 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:22,920 You must stop it. 103 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:25,920 You must keep your voice quiet, Millicent. 104 00:06:25,920 --> 00:06:26,920 Millicent. 105 00:06:26,920 --> 00:06:31,920 We are talking of the weather. 106 00:06:31,920 --> 00:06:34,920 Now, we will proceed. 107 00:06:34,920 --> 00:06:38,920 I can't, I can't, not with those boots. 108 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:40,920 Should have thought of that, Millicent. 109 00:06:40,920 --> 00:06:42,920 I'm not moving. 110 00:06:42,920 --> 00:06:45,920 Sit up, George, and stop shuffling your feet. 111 00:06:45,920 --> 00:06:48,920 Now, Millicent, look at me. 112 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:50,920 Answer me truthfully. 113 00:06:50,920 --> 00:06:53,920 You hear? 114 00:06:53,920 --> 00:06:56,920 Answer me. 115 00:06:56,920 --> 00:06:58,920 You were on the croquis court. 116 00:06:58,920 --> 00:06:59,920 Yes. 117 00:06:59,920 --> 00:07:03,920 You, who knew you were in love with this wretched kid? 118 00:07:03,920 --> 00:07:05,920 Oh, the whole village knows. 119 00:07:05,920 --> 00:07:07,920 They've been snickering about at the pub for three years. 120 00:07:07,920 --> 00:07:08,920 Shut up, George. 121 00:07:08,920 --> 00:07:10,920 Millicent, we continue. 122 00:07:10,920 --> 00:07:12,920 You were on the croquis court. 123 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:13,920 Yes. 124 00:07:13,920 --> 00:07:15,920 You were putting the croquisette in its box. 125 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:17,920 Yes, it was starting to rain. 126 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:20,920 I was carrying the balls and the mallets into the sun porch. 127 00:07:20,920 --> 00:07:21,920 The box was there. 128 00:07:21,920 --> 00:07:25,920 You heard someone enter the garden gate and come across the yard. 129 00:07:25,920 --> 00:07:26,920 Yes. 130 00:07:26,920 --> 00:07:27,920 Could you see who it was? 131 00:07:27,920 --> 00:07:30,920 Not at first. I was going into the sun porch. 132 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,920 I threw down all the mallets, but the red one, and turned around. 133 00:07:34,920 --> 00:07:35,920 It was Withers. 134 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:36,920 Yes. 135 00:07:36,920 --> 00:07:37,920 So you called him? 136 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:38,920 Yes. 137 00:07:38,920 --> 00:07:39,920 Loudly? 138 00:07:39,920 --> 00:07:40,920 Oh. 139 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:42,920 Did you call him loudly? 140 00:07:42,920 --> 00:07:43,920 Could anyone have heard? 141 00:07:43,920 --> 00:07:45,920 No, Father, I'm sure not. 142 00:07:45,920 --> 00:07:47,920 I didn't really call him. 143 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:49,920 I just spoke his name. 144 00:07:49,920 --> 00:07:51,920 He saw me when I went to the door. 145 00:07:51,920 --> 00:07:53,920 He just waved his hand and came over. 146 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,920 How can I find out whether there was anyone about, 147 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:57,920 whether he could have been sent? 148 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:00,920 I'm sure not, Father. I'm quite sure. 149 00:08:00,920 --> 00:08:03,920 Right, so you went on to the sun porch. 150 00:08:03,920 --> 00:08:06,920 Yes, it was raining hard then. 151 00:08:06,920 --> 00:08:07,920 What did he say? 152 00:08:07,920 --> 00:08:09,920 He said, hello, Millie. 153 00:08:09,920 --> 00:08:11,920 An excuse is coming in the back way, 154 00:08:11,920 --> 00:08:14,920 but it set out to walk over to Lyston. 155 00:08:14,920 --> 00:08:15,920 Yes? 156 00:08:15,920 --> 00:08:18,920 And he said, passing the park, he'd seen the house, 157 00:08:18,920 --> 00:08:20,920 and suddenly thought of me. 158 00:08:20,920 --> 00:08:22,920 And he thought he'd just look in for a minute. 159 00:08:22,920 --> 00:08:25,920 He had something he wanted to tell me. 160 00:08:25,920 --> 00:08:26,920 What was it? 161 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:28,920 He said he was so happy, 162 00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:30,920 and he wanted me to share it. 163 00:08:30,920 --> 00:08:33,920 He'd heard from the bishop that he was to have a vicarage, 164 00:08:33,920 --> 00:08:34,920 and it wasn't only that. 165 00:08:34,920 --> 00:08:36,920 It meant that he could marry. 166 00:08:36,920 --> 00:08:40,920 And he began to stutter and get all confused, 167 00:08:40,920 --> 00:08:42,920 and of course I thought he meant me. 168 00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:44,920 Don't tell me what you thought. 169 00:08:44,920 --> 00:08:47,920 Tell me exactly what he said and nothing else. 170 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:49,920 Well, well... 171 00:08:49,920 --> 00:08:50,920 Oh, don't cry. 172 00:08:50,920 --> 00:08:51,920 Stop crying. 173 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:54,920 It's a luxury you can no longer afford. 174 00:08:54,920 --> 00:08:55,920 What happened? 175 00:08:55,920 --> 00:08:56,920 He said... 176 00:08:56,920 --> 00:08:58,920 He said, no. 177 00:08:58,920 --> 00:09:00,920 He said, it... 178 00:09:00,920 --> 00:09:02,920 It wasn't me. 179 00:09:02,920 --> 00:09:05,920 It's Ella Bragdon Davis. 180 00:09:05,920 --> 00:09:10,920 And he was sorry and all that. 181 00:09:10,920 --> 00:09:13,920 And then he went to go. 182 00:09:13,920 --> 00:09:15,920 And then? 183 00:09:15,920 --> 00:09:17,920 I went mad. 184 00:09:17,920 --> 00:09:19,920 He turned his back. 185 00:09:19,920 --> 00:09:22,920 I had the red mallet of the croquet set in my hand. 186 00:09:22,920 --> 00:09:24,920 I'd forgotten to drop it when he came in. 187 00:09:24,920 --> 00:09:26,920 I... I went... 188 00:09:26,920 --> 00:09:29,920 Did you shout or scream, I mean as you hit him? 189 00:09:29,920 --> 00:09:31,920 No, no, I'm sure I didn't. 190 00:09:31,920 --> 00:09:32,920 Did he? 191 00:09:32,920 --> 00:09:33,920 Come on, speak up. 192 00:09:33,920 --> 00:09:34,920 No, Father. 193 00:09:34,920 --> 00:09:35,920 And then? 194 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:36,920 I threw it down. 195 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:37,920 I came straight in here. 196 00:09:37,920 --> 00:09:39,920 I went to look for Mother, that's all. 197 00:09:39,920 --> 00:09:40,920 Oh, my poor friend. 198 00:09:40,920 --> 00:09:42,920 And you're sure no one else was about? 199 00:09:42,920 --> 00:09:43,920 No, no one, no. 200 00:09:43,920 --> 00:09:45,920 Leave the child alone, Fred. 201 00:09:45,920 --> 00:09:48,920 Oh, not such a child, mate. 202 00:09:48,920 --> 00:09:51,920 Oh, Millie, I had no idea. 203 00:09:51,920 --> 00:09:54,920 Deep, why aren't I thinking? 204 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:59,920 You see, George, he probably told people he was going to Lyston. 205 00:09:59,920 --> 00:10:02,920 Certainly no one knows he came here. 206 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:05,920 But he didn't decide until he crossed the park. 207 00:10:05,920 --> 00:10:07,920 He might have been attacked in the woods. 208 00:10:07,920 --> 00:10:10,920 You must consider every detail. 209 00:10:10,920 --> 00:10:13,920 A curate with his head battered in. 210 00:10:13,920 --> 00:10:14,920 Don't, Father, don't. 211 00:10:14,920 --> 00:10:16,920 A curate with his head battered in. 212 00:10:16,920 --> 00:10:20,920 Who, uh, who would want to kill with us? 213 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:22,920 Who'd kill with us? 214 00:10:22,920 --> 00:10:23,920 When I would. 215 00:10:23,920 --> 00:10:24,920 With pleasure. 216 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:26,920 How do you do, Mrs. Princy? 217 00:10:26,920 --> 00:10:27,920 Captain Smollett. 218 00:10:27,920 --> 00:10:28,920 Captain Smollett? 219 00:10:28,920 --> 00:10:29,920 Well, well. 220 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:31,920 Oh, sit down, pray. 221 00:10:31,920 --> 00:10:32,920 You mustn't get up for me, Mrs. Princy. 222 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:33,920 You are the menace. 223 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:34,920 My word. 224 00:10:34,920 --> 00:10:37,920 Just being neighbourly on a bad day. 225 00:10:37,920 --> 00:10:40,920 I wanted to ask you about those dah-ya bulbs, Princy. 226 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:41,920 Mm-hm. 227 00:10:41,920 --> 00:10:42,920 Took a shortcut on account of the rain. 228 00:10:42,920 --> 00:10:43,920 Walked right in. 229 00:10:43,920 --> 00:10:44,920 Knew you wouldn't mind. 230 00:10:44,920 --> 00:10:45,920 He heard you, Father. 231 00:10:45,920 --> 00:10:47,920 My dear, we can all have our little jokes. 232 00:10:47,920 --> 00:10:50,920 Don't pretend to be shocked. 233 00:10:50,920 --> 00:10:51,920 This way, Smollett. 234 00:10:51,920 --> 00:10:52,920 This chair facing the fireplace. 235 00:10:52,920 --> 00:10:53,920 Sit down, Mother. 236 00:10:53,920 --> 00:10:57,920 Oh, uh, just, uh, just straighten the curtains on the sun porch, dear. 237 00:10:57,920 --> 00:10:59,920 It looks so gloomy out there. 238 00:10:59,920 --> 00:11:01,920 Might as well shut the rain out. 239 00:11:01,920 --> 00:11:02,920 Yeah. 240 00:11:02,920 --> 00:11:06,920 We were just talking about a little theoretical parson-killing, Smollett. 241 00:11:06,920 --> 00:11:09,920 Young people these days like thrillers. 242 00:11:09,920 --> 00:11:10,920 Parsonicide. 243 00:11:10,920 --> 00:11:13,920 Justifiable parsonicide. 244 00:11:13,920 --> 00:11:17,920 Have you heard about Ella Bregdon Davis? 245 00:11:17,920 --> 00:11:19,920 I shall be most properly laughed at. 246 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:20,920 Why? 247 00:11:20,920 --> 00:11:23,920 Why should you be laughed at, Smollett? 248 00:11:23,920 --> 00:11:27,920 Oh, had a shot in that direction myself. 249 00:11:27,920 --> 00:11:28,920 Ha-ha. 250 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:29,920 Yes. 251 00:11:29,920 --> 00:11:31,920 She half said yes, too. 252 00:11:31,920 --> 00:11:32,920 Haven't you heard? 253 00:11:32,920 --> 00:11:34,920 She told most people. 254 00:11:34,920 --> 00:11:38,920 Now it'll look as though I got turned down for a white rat and a dog collar. 255 00:11:38,920 --> 00:11:39,920 Too bad. 256 00:11:39,920 --> 00:11:40,920 Oh, well. 257 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:43,920 Fortune of war, you know. 258 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:44,920 Yes. 259 00:11:44,920 --> 00:11:46,920 Yes, fortune of war. 260 00:11:46,920 --> 00:11:48,920 Odd how it happens, isn't it? 261 00:11:48,920 --> 00:11:49,920 Sit down, Smollett. 262 00:11:49,920 --> 00:11:53,920 Mother Millicent, console Captain Smollett with your best light conversation. 263 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:55,920 George and I have something to look at outside. 264 00:11:55,920 --> 00:11:56,920 This will be no bad, very bad. 265 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:57,920 Come on, George, come on. 266 00:11:57,920 --> 00:11:58,920 Oh, right, Captain, right. 267 00:11:58,920 --> 00:11:59,920 The president needs rain, Captain. 268 00:11:59,920 --> 00:12:00,920 Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. 269 00:12:00,920 --> 00:12:01,920 Just make yourself at home, Smollett. 270 00:12:01,920 --> 00:12:02,920 Make yourself at home. 271 00:12:02,920 --> 00:12:03,920 Uh, a cigarette, Captain Smollett? 272 00:12:03,920 --> 00:12:04,920 Yes, yes. 273 00:12:04,920 --> 00:12:11,920 Thank you. 274 00:12:11,920 --> 00:12:14,920 Nasty dude, going out. 275 00:12:14,920 --> 00:12:16,920 It's something about the old well. 276 00:12:16,920 --> 00:12:19,920 Just off the sun porch door, you know. 277 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:23,920 This terrible, sudden weather seemed to have loosened some of the stones. 278 00:12:23,920 --> 00:12:24,920 Too bad. 279 00:12:24,920 --> 00:12:25,920 There's too bad. 280 00:12:25,920 --> 00:12:27,920 Spoils the tennis in Croquant. 281 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:29,920 I mean a day like this. 282 00:12:29,920 --> 00:12:31,920 Doesn't it, Millicent? 283 00:12:31,920 --> 00:12:32,920 Yes, it does. 284 00:12:32,920 --> 00:12:35,920 She was practicing out in the Croquant court earlier. 285 00:12:35,920 --> 00:12:39,920 But, uh, do pull your chair near the fire, Captain. 286 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:42,920 It was so damp we thought it would be cosy to light it. 287 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:43,920 Oh, thank you. 288 00:12:43,920 --> 00:12:44,920 I'm quite comfortable. 289 00:12:44,920 --> 00:12:49,920 I hope you don't feel too bad about Ella Bragdon Davis. 290 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:52,920 Well, can't always win an hour. 291 00:12:52,920 --> 00:12:57,920 Can't understand, though, what you women see in these bloodless clerics. 292 00:12:57,920 --> 00:13:00,920 Oh, I always thought Mr. Withers was... 293 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:03,920 Oh, is a very charming man. 294 00:13:03,920 --> 00:13:05,920 Oh, yes, quite agree. 295 00:13:05,920 --> 00:13:07,920 But why should anyone want to marry him? 296 00:13:07,920 --> 00:13:10,920 You wouldn't want to marry him, would you, Millicent? 297 00:13:10,920 --> 00:13:12,920 Not now. That is, I... 298 00:13:12,920 --> 00:13:15,920 Are you... Oh, no, no, of course not. 299 00:13:15,920 --> 00:13:16,920 Smollett. 300 00:13:16,920 --> 00:13:18,920 Yes? Oh, Fancy. 301 00:13:18,920 --> 00:13:20,920 Oh, good Lord, then. 302 00:13:20,920 --> 00:13:22,920 You do come in on a fellow suddenly. 303 00:13:22,920 --> 00:13:23,920 Yes, I do. 304 00:13:23,920 --> 00:13:26,920 Oh, don't mind this old double-barrelled shotgun. 305 00:13:26,920 --> 00:13:28,920 I've been working on it. 306 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:32,920 Smollett, may I have your attention for a minute? 307 00:13:32,920 --> 00:13:36,920 There's something on the sun porch I'd like to show you. 308 00:13:36,920 --> 00:13:38,920 I, um... Yes. 309 00:13:38,920 --> 00:13:40,920 Yes, of course. 310 00:13:40,920 --> 00:13:44,920 Smollett, George and I went out to see if we could shoot some rats 311 00:13:44,920 --> 00:13:47,920 which have been driven out of the old well with the high water. 312 00:13:47,920 --> 00:13:50,920 Afraid they might get into the house, you know. 313 00:13:50,920 --> 00:13:55,920 Now, you must listen to me very carefully. 314 00:13:55,920 --> 00:14:02,920 Very carefully, or you will be shot by accident. 315 00:14:02,920 --> 00:14:08,920 Um, Fancy, what's got into you? 316 00:14:08,920 --> 00:14:11,920 Well, you heard me ask as you came in who would kill Withers. 317 00:14:11,920 --> 00:14:15,920 You also heard Millicent make a comment, an unguarded comment. 318 00:14:15,920 --> 00:14:18,920 Well, what of it? 319 00:14:18,920 --> 00:14:24,920 Very little, unless you were to hear that Withers had met a violent end this afternoon. 320 00:14:24,920 --> 00:14:30,920 And that, my dear Smollett, is what you are going to hear. 321 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:33,920 What? Withers? Ben? 322 00:14:33,920 --> 00:14:35,920 Yes. 323 00:14:35,920 --> 00:14:39,920 Well, um, who killed him? 324 00:14:39,920 --> 00:14:41,920 Millicent. 325 00:14:41,920 --> 00:14:43,920 Good Lord. 326 00:14:43,920 --> 00:14:45,920 Yes, it's a mess. 327 00:14:45,920 --> 00:14:51,920 And, of course, you would have remembered and guessed. 328 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:57,920 Maybe. Yes. Yes, I suppose I should. 329 00:14:57,920 --> 00:15:00,920 Therefore, you constitute a problem. 330 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:02,920 Yes, but, um, why did she kill him? 331 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:06,920 It's one of those disgusting things, you know, pitiable, too. 332 00:15:06,920 --> 00:15:08,920 She deluded herself that he was in love with her. 333 00:15:08,920 --> 00:15:09,920 Good heavens. 334 00:15:09,920 --> 00:15:11,920 Many? 335 00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:15,920 Ah, yes, of course, I see. 336 00:15:15,920 --> 00:15:20,920 He told her about the Davis girl, Ella Brandon Davis. 337 00:15:20,920 --> 00:15:22,920 I understand. 338 00:15:22,920 --> 00:15:27,920 I no wish, as you will comprehend, that you should be proved either a lunatic or a murderess. 339 00:15:27,920 --> 00:15:29,920 I could hardly go on living here after that. 340 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:34,920 Besides, I'm, uh, I'm rather fond of many. 341 00:15:34,920 --> 00:15:35,920 Right. 342 00:15:35,920 --> 00:15:40,920 On the other hand, you know about it. 343 00:15:40,920 --> 00:15:44,920 Yes, I see. That, um, makes me a problem. 344 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:45,920 Mm-hm. 345 00:15:45,920 --> 00:15:51,920 You're, um, wondering if I could keep my mouth shut if I promised. 346 00:15:51,920 --> 00:15:56,920 I'm wondering if I could believe you, but, um, if I promised. 347 00:15:56,920 --> 00:15:59,920 If things went smoothly, yes. 348 00:15:59,920 --> 00:16:03,920 But not if there was any sort of suspicion, any questioning. 349 00:16:03,920 --> 00:16:06,920 You would be afraid of being an accessory. 350 00:16:06,920 --> 00:16:08,920 Uh, I don't know. 351 00:16:08,920 --> 00:16:12,920 I do. What are we going to do? 352 00:16:12,920 --> 00:16:17,920 Well, I can't see anything else. 353 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:20,920 You would, um, never be fool enough to do me in. 354 00:16:20,920 --> 00:16:23,920 Can't get rid of two corpses, you know. 355 00:16:23,920 --> 00:16:25,920 I regard that as a better risk than the other. 356 00:16:25,920 --> 00:16:29,920 Could be an accident, you know, or you and Withers could both disappear. 357 00:16:29,920 --> 00:16:32,920 There are possibilities in that. 358 00:16:32,920 --> 00:16:33,920 Oh, see, here, you can't... 359 00:16:33,920 --> 00:16:36,920 I can, but there may be a way out. 360 00:16:36,920 --> 00:16:38,920 There is, Smollett. 361 00:16:38,920 --> 00:16:40,920 You gave it to me yourself. 362 00:16:40,920 --> 00:16:43,920 I? I did? 363 00:16:43,920 --> 00:16:45,920 Mm-hm. What? 364 00:16:45,920 --> 00:16:48,920 You said you would kill Withers. 365 00:16:48,920 --> 00:16:50,920 You have a motive. 366 00:16:50,920 --> 00:16:51,920 Oh, look, here, I was joking. 367 00:16:51,920 --> 00:16:53,920 Listen, Smollett. 368 00:16:53,920 --> 00:16:56,920 I can't trust you. You must trust me. 369 00:16:56,920 --> 00:17:00,920 Else I will kill you now, in the next minute. 370 00:17:00,920 --> 00:17:02,920 I mean that. 371 00:17:02,920 --> 00:17:05,920 You can choose between dying and living. 372 00:17:05,920 --> 00:17:07,920 Oh. 373 00:17:07,920 --> 00:17:09,920 Well, go on. 374 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:13,920 There's the old well just outside the Sunch porch door. 375 00:17:13,920 --> 00:17:15,920 That's where I'm going to put Withers. 376 00:17:15,920 --> 00:17:18,920 No one outside knows he's come up here this afternoon. 377 00:17:18,920 --> 00:17:23,920 No one will ever look in there for him unless you tell them now. 378 00:17:23,920 --> 00:17:28,920 You must give me evidence that you have murdered Withers. 379 00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:30,920 I murdered him. 380 00:17:30,920 --> 00:17:32,920 Why do you want that? 381 00:17:32,920 --> 00:17:36,920 So that I should be dead sure that you will never open your lips on the subject. 382 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:38,920 Ah, I see. 383 00:17:38,920 --> 00:17:40,920 What evidence? 384 00:17:40,920 --> 00:17:42,920 George, hit him in the face. 385 00:17:42,920 --> 00:17:44,920 Sure. 386 00:17:44,920 --> 00:17:46,920 Oh, George, don't. 387 00:17:46,920 --> 00:17:48,920 Captain, you should be more careful. 388 00:17:48,920 --> 00:17:50,920 Look what your teeth did to my knuckle. 389 00:17:50,920 --> 00:17:52,920 Again, George. 390 00:17:52,920 --> 00:17:54,920 Oh, I can't stand that. 391 00:17:54,920 --> 00:17:56,920 Father, how can you? 392 00:17:56,920 --> 00:18:01,920 I'm sorry, Smollett, but there must be traces of a struggle between you and Withers. 393 00:18:01,920 --> 00:18:05,920 Then it will not be altogether safe for you to go to the police. 394 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:07,920 George, get the croquet mallet. 395 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:09,920 There it is on the, er, some porch. 396 00:18:11,920 --> 00:18:13,920 There, Captain. 397 00:18:13,920 --> 00:18:15,920 There's your weapon. 398 00:18:15,920 --> 00:18:19,920 As I told you, Smollett, now you'll just grasp the end that mashed Withers' head. 399 00:18:19,920 --> 00:18:21,920 I shall shoot you if you don't. 400 00:18:21,920 --> 00:18:23,920 Yes, but good Lord, you can't. 401 00:18:23,920 --> 00:18:25,920 Or? 402 00:18:25,920 --> 00:18:27,920 All right. 403 00:18:27,920 --> 00:18:29,920 That's it. 404 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:32,920 Now, deposit it by the side of the house outside. 405 00:18:32,920 --> 00:18:34,920 Out of the rain, of course. 406 00:18:34,920 --> 00:18:36,920 Oh, wait, George. 407 00:18:36,920 --> 00:18:40,920 You'd better pull a few hairs out of his head and put them under the nails of Withers' right hand. 408 00:18:40,920 --> 00:18:41,920 Oh, no, wait. 409 00:18:41,920 --> 00:18:43,920 I'm sorry to mess up your hair, Captain. 410 00:18:43,920 --> 00:18:45,920 Shut up, Smollett. 411 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:47,920 Now, that's all we need. 412 00:18:47,920 --> 00:18:49,920 Enough, Mr. Withers, and we'll fix it right up. 413 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:51,920 I'll be right with you, Captain. 414 00:18:51,920 --> 00:18:55,920 Smollett, you may turn round. 415 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:59,920 Withers is just there on the sun porch. 416 00:18:59,920 --> 00:19:01,920 Draw back the curtain. 417 00:19:01,920 --> 00:19:03,920 Good Lord. 418 00:19:03,920 --> 00:19:05,920 Yes, messy. 419 00:19:05,920 --> 00:19:13,920 Now, you, Smollett, you've just got to drag him through the door and dump him in the old well. 420 00:19:13,920 --> 00:19:15,920 Just beyond the door, Captain. 421 00:19:15,920 --> 00:19:17,920 I won't touch. 422 00:19:17,920 --> 00:19:19,920 All right, stand aside out of range, George. 423 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:21,920 Any place where I want this shot to go, only one place. 424 00:19:21,920 --> 00:19:23,920 Oh, Father, Father! 425 00:19:23,920 --> 00:19:25,920 Keep quiet. Keep out of this. 426 00:19:25,920 --> 00:19:27,920 My aim is not too sure. 427 00:19:27,920 --> 00:19:29,920 Wait a minute. 428 00:19:29,920 --> 00:19:31,920 That's better, Smollett. 429 00:19:31,920 --> 00:19:33,920 Much better. 430 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:35,920 Go on now. Go ahead. 431 00:19:35,920 --> 00:19:37,920 You have to take him outside. 432 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:39,920 By the shoulders, what to do, Captain. 433 00:19:39,920 --> 00:19:41,920 Keep quiet, George. 434 00:19:41,920 --> 00:19:43,920 Go on, Smollett. 435 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:45,920 Go on. You've seen a dead man before. Drag him. 436 00:19:45,920 --> 00:19:47,920 Drag him. 437 00:19:47,920 --> 00:19:53,920 I'll just hold the gun here to make sure everything goes all right. 438 00:19:55,920 --> 00:19:57,920 Oh, come away from the window, dear. 439 00:19:57,920 --> 00:19:59,920 Don't look. 440 00:19:59,920 --> 00:20:01,920 Captain Smollett. 441 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:03,920 Oh, your father is a very resourceful man, Mellison. 442 00:20:03,920 --> 00:20:05,920 I'm sure what he's doing is... 443 00:20:05,920 --> 00:20:07,920 But, Captain, I can't understand it. 444 00:20:07,920 --> 00:20:09,920 Oh, you must question your dear father. 445 00:20:09,920 --> 00:20:11,920 You can still add it. 446 00:20:11,920 --> 00:20:13,920 There's enough trouble around here without your blubbery. 447 00:20:13,920 --> 00:20:15,920 Don't you call me blubbering, George, Mellison. 448 00:20:15,920 --> 00:20:17,920 Everything is perfect, Mellison. 449 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:21,920 Remember, no one knows that Withers came here. 450 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:25,920 Everyone thinks he walked over to Lyston. 451 00:20:25,920 --> 00:20:27,920 That's five miles of country to search. 452 00:20:27,920 --> 00:20:29,920 They'll never look in our well. 453 00:20:29,920 --> 00:20:31,920 You see how safe it is? 454 00:20:31,920 --> 00:20:33,920 Uh, I guess so. 455 00:20:33,920 --> 00:20:35,920 Good heavens, man, you're dripping wet. 456 00:20:35,920 --> 00:20:37,920 Why didn't you slip on your raincoat? 457 00:20:37,920 --> 00:20:39,920 Tea ready, my dear? 458 00:20:39,920 --> 00:20:41,920 In just a minute, dear. 459 00:20:41,920 --> 00:20:43,920 I'll live for Bridget. 460 00:20:43,920 --> 00:20:45,920 Exactly what you need, Smollett, a cup of tea. 461 00:20:45,920 --> 00:20:47,920 Best thing in the world, a water for cold. 462 00:20:47,920 --> 00:20:49,920 Sit down, won't you? Sit down. 463 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:51,920 Oh, don't mind getting the chair wet. 464 00:20:51,920 --> 00:20:53,920 Thank you. 465 00:20:53,920 --> 00:20:55,920 Cigarette? Help yourself. 466 00:20:55,920 --> 00:20:57,920 I stick to my pipe. 467 00:20:57,920 --> 00:20:59,920 Funny how you get attached to them. 468 00:20:59,920 --> 00:21:01,920 My wife always says... 469 00:21:01,920 --> 00:21:03,920 See, Mrs. Princey, everything is hot, man. 470 00:21:03,920 --> 00:21:05,920 Oh, yes, Bridget. 471 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:07,920 Put the tray in front of me. Here, here on the table. 472 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:11,920 I say, Captain, you've caught your lip. 473 00:21:11,920 --> 00:21:13,920 Huh? 474 00:21:13,920 --> 00:21:15,920 I just marked it. 475 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:17,920 Why, how dreadful. 476 00:21:17,920 --> 00:21:19,920 Here, Bridget, here. Give the Captain his cup. 477 00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:21,920 Uh, no, thank you. 478 00:21:21,920 --> 00:21:23,920 I think I'll be running along, if you don't mind. 479 00:21:23,920 --> 00:21:25,920 Why, Captain Smollett, without any tea? 480 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:27,920 If you don't mind, Mrs. Princey, 481 00:21:27,920 --> 00:21:29,920 if I could just have my raincoat... 482 00:21:29,920 --> 00:21:31,920 Oh, I'll get it for you, Captain. 483 00:21:31,920 --> 00:21:33,920 This is very distressing, Smollett. 484 00:21:33,920 --> 00:21:35,920 Very. 485 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:37,920 Yes, well, I'll be all right. Present, I'm sure. 486 00:21:37,920 --> 00:21:39,920 Here you are, sir. Let me help you. 487 00:21:39,920 --> 00:21:41,920 Thank you, young man. 488 00:21:41,920 --> 00:21:43,920 There. 489 00:21:43,920 --> 00:21:45,920 Better go out the front way, Smollett. 490 00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:47,920 Walk is drier. 491 00:21:47,920 --> 00:21:49,920 Let me hold the door for you, dear. 492 00:21:49,920 --> 00:21:51,920 Don't worry, old fellow. 493 00:21:51,920 --> 00:21:53,920 Don't worry at all. 494 00:21:53,920 --> 00:21:55,920 There. 495 00:21:55,920 --> 00:21:57,920 Now I won't. 496 00:21:57,920 --> 00:21:59,920 Well, good afternoon. 497 00:21:59,920 --> 00:22:01,920 Oh. 498 00:22:01,920 --> 00:22:03,920 Hmm. 499 00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:05,920 Nothing serious, I imagine. 500 00:22:05,920 --> 00:22:07,920 A little rest, and you'll be as right as rain. 501 00:22:07,920 --> 00:22:09,920 By the way, Millicent, 502 00:22:09,920 --> 00:22:11,920 you're not looking any too well. 503 00:22:11,920 --> 00:22:13,920 Oh, not well at all. 504 00:22:13,920 --> 00:22:15,920 I'm sure it was the croaky court. 505 00:22:15,920 --> 00:22:17,920 Being outdoors in weather like this is simply foolhardy. 506 00:22:17,920 --> 00:22:19,920 The Major's right, Millie. 507 00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:21,920 You saw what happened to Captain Smollett. 508 00:22:21,920 --> 00:22:23,920 Come along, dear. 509 00:22:23,920 --> 00:22:25,920 I shall give you a hot foot bath and put you to bed. 510 00:22:25,920 --> 00:22:27,920 A couple of days in bed. 511 00:22:27,920 --> 00:22:29,920 I'm dead. 512 00:22:29,920 --> 00:22:31,920 Get plenty of rest, Millicent, and don't worry about a thing. 513 00:22:31,920 --> 00:22:33,920 That's the best cure. 514 00:22:33,920 --> 00:22:35,920 Oh. 515 00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:37,920 I guess I'll have a little rest too, Governor. 516 00:22:37,920 --> 00:22:39,920 It's a fine afternoon for a man. 517 00:22:39,920 --> 00:22:41,920 Indeed it is, son. Indeed it is. 518 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:43,920 Well, enjoy yourselves. 519 00:22:43,920 --> 00:22:45,920 See you later. 520 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:47,920 See you all later. 521 00:22:47,920 --> 00:22:49,920 Da-da-da-dum-dum-dum. 522 00:22:49,920 --> 00:22:51,920 Da-dum-dum-dum-dum. 523 00:22:51,920 --> 00:22:53,920 De-de-da-dum-dum-dum. 524 00:22:53,920 --> 00:22:55,920 Da-da-da-dum-dum-dum. 525 00:22:55,920 --> 00:22:57,920 Da-da-da-dum-dum-dum. 526 00:22:57,920 --> 00:22:59,920 Your number, please. 527 00:22:59,920 --> 00:23:01,920 Oh, would you get me the police station? 528 00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:03,920 Police station? 529 00:23:03,920 --> 00:23:05,920 Right away, sir. 530 00:23:05,920 --> 00:23:07,920 Da-da-da-de-de-da. 531 00:23:07,920 --> 00:23:09,920 De-de-de-de-de-de. 532 00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:11,920 Da-da-da-dum-dum-dum-dum. 533 00:23:11,920 --> 00:23:13,920 Police Headquarters, Sergeant Yancey speaking. 534 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:15,920 Oh, hello, Sergeant. 535 00:23:15,920 --> 00:23:17,920 This is Princey of Abbots Road. 536 00:23:17,920 --> 00:23:19,920 I believe you know me. 537 00:23:19,920 --> 00:23:21,920 Indeed I do, Mr. Princey. 538 00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:23,920 Um, Sergeant, 539 00:23:23,920 --> 00:23:25,920 a rather horrible thing has just occurred. 540 00:23:25,920 --> 00:23:27,920 Quite extraordinary. 541 00:23:27,920 --> 00:23:29,920 Murder, in fact. 542 00:23:29,920 --> 00:23:31,920 Murder? 543 00:23:31,920 --> 00:23:33,920 I'm afraid it looks rather bad for... 544 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:37,920 well, for a close friend of ours, unfortunately. 545 00:23:37,920 --> 00:23:39,920 We saw him do it. 546 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:41,920 I, uh... 547 00:23:41,920 --> 00:23:43,920 I think you'd better send someone over right away. 548 00:23:43,920 --> 00:23:45,920 Our man should be there right about now, Mr. Princey. 549 00:23:45,920 --> 00:23:47,920 Uh... 550 00:23:47,920 --> 00:23:49,920 I beg your pardon? 551 00:23:49,920 --> 00:23:51,920 I say our man should be there now. 552 00:23:51,920 --> 00:23:55,920 Constable Martin has his post right below your house there. 553 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:57,920 I just rang him. 554 00:23:57,920 --> 00:23:59,920 Uh, seems Captain Smollett was with him. 555 00:23:59,920 --> 00:24:01,920 Captain... 556 00:24:01,920 --> 00:24:03,920 Smollett? 557 00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:05,920 He reported some rather queer goings-on at your place, 558 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:09,920 but I certainly didn't understand it was murder. 559 00:24:09,920 --> 00:24:11,920 Just don't touch anything, Mr. Princey, 560 00:24:11,920 --> 00:24:13,920 and don't worry. 561 00:24:13,920 --> 00:24:15,920 Don't worry at all. 562 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:17,920 No. 563 00:24:17,920 --> 00:24:19,920 I... I won't, Sergeant. 564 00:24:21,920 --> 00:24:23,920 Thank you. 565 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:29,920 Where are you going? 566 00:24:29,920 --> 00:24:31,920 Right here. Stop shouting. 567 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:33,920 We have some visitors, Governor. 568 00:24:33,920 --> 00:24:35,920 Yes, I can see that. 569 00:24:35,920 --> 00:24:37,920 Well, Constable, uh... 570 00:24:37,920 --> 00:24:39,920 Good afternoon. 571 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:41,920 Mr. Princey. 572 00:24:41,920 --> 00:24:43,920 And, uh, Smollett, I see what a remarkable fellow you are, 573 00:24:43,920 --> 00:24:45,920 coming back like this. 574 00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:47,920 Here to re-enact the crime? 575 00:24:47,920 --> 00:24:49,920 Only the one against me, Princey. 576 00:24:49,920 --> 00:24:51,920 The one against the curate I leave to you people. 577 00:24:51,920 --> 00:24:53,920 Extraordinary sense of humor. 578 00:24:53,920 --> 00:24:55,920 Mr. Princey, 579 00:24:55,920 --> 00:24:57,920 I just had a look at what's in your well. 580 00:24:57,920 --> 00:24:59,920 Not a pretty sight, that. 581 00:24:59,920 --> 00:25:01,920 Not pretty at all. 582 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:03,920 Yes, Constable, Captain Smollett was thorough, 583 00:25:03,920 --> 00:25:05,920 if nothing else. 584 00:25:05,920 --> 00:25:07,920 You saw him when he did it, sir? 585 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:09,920 Out in the back? Quite. 586 00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:11,920 We were just returning from a walk. 587 00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:13,920 Smollett evidently had been laying for the curate, 588 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:15,920 hiding out there in those bushes by the road, I imagine. 589 00:25:15,920 --> 00:25:17,920 He was never inside this house? 590 00:25:17,920 --> 00:25:19,920 No, never, never. 591 00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:21,920 And you, say, Captain? 592 00:25:21,920 --> 00:25:23,920 I say that while I was inside this house, 593 00:25:23,920 --> 00:25:25,920 a guest of the family, 594 00:25:25,920 --> 00:25:27,920 I was coerced into dragging the curate's body outside 595 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:29,920 and dumping it into the well. 596 00:25:29,920 --> 00:25:31,920 Well, there we are. 597 00:25:31,920 --> 00:25:33,920 No, not entirely, Constable. 598 00:25:33,920 --> 00:25:35,920 I'll just remove my raincoat. 599 00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:37,920 There. 600 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:39,920 And, um, demonstrate 601 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:41,920 how damp I got my clothes 602 00:25:41,920 --> 00:25:43,920 when I went outside without it. 603 00:25:43,920 --> 00:25:45,920 Oh, that's interesting, isn't it? 604 00:25:45,920 --> 00:25:47,920 It's quite. 605 00:25:47,920 --> 00:25:49,920 He undoubtedly removed his coat 606 00:25:49,920 --> 00:25:51,920 at some point between here and your post. 607 00:25:51,920 --> 00:25:53,920 I might as well tell you 608 00:25:53,920 --> 00:25:55,920 that his weapon, a red croquet mallet, 609 00:25:55,920 --> 00:25:57,920 is out by the side of the house. 610 00:25:57,920 --> 00:25:59,920 I shouldn't be at all surprised, 611 00:25:59,920 --> 00:26:01,920 but you might find his fingerprints all over it. 612 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:03,920 All over the end of the mallet, Constable, 613 00:26:03,920 --> 00:26:05,920 the end that mashed Wither's head. 614 00:26:05,920 --> 00:26:07,920 Not the end I'd have to grasp 615 00:26:07,920 --> 00:26:09,920 in order to do the mashing. 616 00:26:09,920 --> 00:26:11,920 Covener, uh... 617 00:26:11,920 --> 00:26:13,920 That's a decent try, Smollett, but it won't work. 618 00:26:13,920 --> 00:26:15,920 There must be other evidences, Constable. 619 00:26:15,920 --> 00:26:17,920 You'll undoubtedly find them 620 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:19,920 when you examine the body. 621 00:26:19,920 --> 00:26:21,920 He means my hair under Wither's fingernails. 622 00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:23,920 Well, sir, 623 00:26:23,920 --> 00:26:25,920 you know, I happen to notice something 624 00:26:25,920 --> 00:26:27,920 when young George there opened the door for me. 625 00:26:27,920 --> 00:26:29,920 I was wondering 626 00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:31,920 if you'd look carefully. 627 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:33,920 I believe you'll find a few of my precious hairs 628 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:35,920 under his nails, too. 629 00:26:35,920 --> 00:26:37,920 What are you trying to suggest? 630 00:26:37,920 --> 00:26:39,920 Shut up! 631 00:26:39,920 --> 00:26:41,920 Constable, this is an utter waste of time. 632 00:26:41,920 --> 00:26:43,920 So far as violence struggle between Smollett 633 00:26:43,920 --> 00:26:45,920 and Wither's is concerned, 634 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:47,920 Smollett's face speaks for itself quite eloquently, I believe. 635 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:49,920 Oh, yes, but no more eloquently 636 00:26:49,920 --> 00:26:51,920 than your son's knuckle. 637 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:53,920 As you see, Constable, look here. 638 00:26:53,920 --> 00:26:55,920 A fresh abrasion. 639 00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:57,920 He did that on my teeth. 640 00:26:57,920 --> 00:26:59,920 Oh. 641 00:26:59,920 --> 00:27:01,920 Or, um, did he? 642 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:03,920 What? 643 00:27:03,920 --> 00:27:05,920 I say, or did he? 644 00:27:05,920 --> 00:27:07,920 You know, 645 00:27:07,920 --> 00:27:09,920 he might have done that on Wither's teeth. 646 00:27:09,920 --> 00:27:11,920 Ha, ha, ha. 647 00:27:11,920 --> 00:27:13,920 Here, here, I see, I... 648 00:27:13,920 --> 00:27:15,920 I see what you mean. 649 00:27:15,920 --> 00:27:17,920 But I didn't, Governor. He said that I... 650 00:27:17,920 --> 00:27:19,920 Keep still, you nitwit! 651 00:27:19,920 --> 00:27:21,920 Let me think. 652 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:23,920 Let me think. 653 00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:25,920 As a matter of fact, George, 654 00:27:25,920 --> 00:27:27,920 the more I think of it, the more I'm convinced 655 00:27:27,920 --> 00:27:29,920 it was your voice I heard. 656 00:27:29,920 --> 00:27:31,920 Quite a vigorous quarrel. 657 00:27:31,920 --> 00:27:33,920 Something about the, um, 658 00:27:33,920 --> 00:27:35,920 curate jolting your sister. 659 00:27:35,920 --> 00:27:37,920 Don't be ridiculous, Smollett. 660 00:27:37,920 --> 00:27:39,920 Very well, Princey. 661 00:27:39,920 --> 00:27:41,920 If he didn't do it, who did? 662 00:27:41,920 --> 00:27:43,920 That's what I'd like to know. 663 00:27:43,920 --> 00:27:45,920 How about it, Mr. Princey? 664 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:47,920 That, uh, that is a sticker, all right. 665 00:27:47,920 --> 00:27:49,920 Ha, ha, ha, ha. 666 00:27:49,920 --> 00:27:51,920 George, my boy. 667 00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:53,920 It looks like you're elected. 668 00:27:53,920 --> 00:27:55,920 Elected? 669 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:57,920 What do you mean, I didn't do it? 670 00:27:57,920 --> 00:27:59,920 Keep your mouth shut. I won't! 671 00:27:59,920 --> 00:28:01,920 I'm not going to take the blame for her. 672 00:28:01,920 --> 00:28:03,920 Millie did it. She did it with that mallet I saw do it. 673 00:28:03,920 --> 00:28:05,920 You can prove that. Prove it. 674 00:28:05,920 --> 00:28:07,920 Well, yes, her fingerprints on the mallet, on the handle. 675 00:28:07,920 --> 00:28:09,920 Why, George, 676 00:28:09,920 --> 00:28:11,920 don't you remember when you made me 677 00:28:11,920 --> 00:28:13,920 touch the mallet? 678 00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:15,920 When you picked it up with your handkerchief? 679 00:28:15,920 --> 00:28:17,920 George, 680 00:28:17,920 --> 00:28:19,920 I'm sure you wiped that handle clean. 681 00:28:19,920 --> 00:28:21,920 Oh, well. 682 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:23,920 I could hardly expect you to remember that 683 00:28:23,920 --> 00:28:25,920 if you, um, 684 00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:27,920 can't even remember killing the carrot. 685 00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:29,920 Governor, the... 686 00:28:29,920 --> 00:28:31,920 I told you to keep still, 687 00:28:31,920 --> 00:28:33,920 George. I'm thinking. 688 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:35,920 Governor, 689 00:28:35,920 --> 00:28:37,920 you're not going to stand there and let him say that I... 690 00:28:37,920 --> 00:28:39,920 As long as I can remember, 691 00:28:39,920 --> 00:28:41,920 George, you've been a trial 692 00:28:41,920 --> 00:28:43,920 and a tribulation to me. 693 00:28:43,920 --> 00:28:45,920 Oh. 694 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:47,920 Um... 695 00:28:47,920 --> 00:28:49,920 You shouldn't have done it, George. 696 00:28:49,920 --> 00:28:51,920 You shouldn't have done it. 697 00:28:51,920 --> 00:28:53,920 Now, let's all have a cup of tea. 698 00:28:53,920 --> 00:28:55,920 Nothing like it in weather like this. 699 00:29:13,920 --> 00:29:15,920 So ends Wet Saturday. 700 00:29:15,920 --> 00:29:17,920 The first of two half-hour stories 701 00:29:17,920 --> 00:29:19,920 combining dramatic weather 702 00:29:19,920 --> 00:29:21,920 and dramatic suspense. 703 00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,920 Our thanks to Dennis Hoey for an excellent performance, 704 00:29:24,920 --> 00:29:26,920 and to Harold Medford, who adapted 705 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:28,920 John Collier's story. 706 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:30,920 True to our prediction, we'll return in a moment 707 00:29:30,920 --> 00:29:32,920 with August Heat, 708 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:34,920 a second study in suspense. 709 00:29:42,920 --> 00:29:45,920 This is CBS, the Columbia broadcasting system. 710 00:29:45,920 --> 00:29:48,920 And now, back to our Hollywood sound stage 711 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,920 and to our producer, Mr. Robert Montgomery. 712 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:54,920 The rains of Wet Saturday are gone. 713 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,920 In their stead, a blazing sun burns down 714 00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:00,920 on the damp earth of the English countryside, 715 00:30:00,920 --> 00:30:02,920 steaming the atmosphere with a heat 716 00:30:02,920 --> 00:30:04,920 that's humid and smothering, 717 00:30:04,920 --> 00:30:06,920 like a tight outer garment, 718 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:08,920 like a shroud which cannot be loosed 719 00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:10,920 and cast aside. 720 00:30:10,920 --> 00:30:12,920 Such a heat weighs upon your entire being 721 00:30:12,920 --> 00:30:14,920 and saps from you the last strength of hope 722 00:30:14,920 --> 00:30:16,920 and freedom. 723 00:30:16,920 --> 00:30:18,920 This is the setting for the companion piece 724 00:30:18,920 --> 00:30:20,920 to our first drama, Wet Saturday. 725 00:30:20,920 --> 00:30:23,920 This, then, is August Heat, 726 00:30:23,920 --> 00:30:25,920 the second of two suspense dramas 727 00:30:25,920 --> 00:30:27,920 complete in this hour. 728 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:29,920 And now, with the performance of Barry Kroger 729 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:32,920 as James Clarence Withencroft 730 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:35,920 and the reappearance of Dennis Hoey as the man, 731 00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:37,920 and with W.F. Harvey's August Heat, 732 00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:39,920 we promise a narrative well calculated 733 00:30:39,920 --> 00:30:41,920 to keep you in... 734 00:30:41,920 --> 00:30:44,920 Suspense! 735 00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:09,920 Fennistone Road, Clapham, August 20, 1947. 736 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:13,920 I have had what I believe 737 00:31:13,920 --> 00:31:24,920 to be the most remarkable day in my life. 738 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:36,920 And while the events are still fresh in my mind, 739 00:31:36,920 --> 00:31:43,920 I wish to put them down on paper 740 00:31:43,920 --> 00:31:47,920 as clearly as possible. 741 00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:55,920 Let me say at the outset that my name is 742 00:31:55,920 --> 00:31:57,920 James Clarence Withencroft. 743 00:31:57,920 --> 00:31:59,920 You must remember that in order to have 744 00:31:59,920 --> 00:32:02,920 the full implication of my story. 745 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:06,920 James Clarence Withencroft. 746 00:32:06,920 --> 00:32:09,920 I'm 35 years old, in perfect health, 747 00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:11,920 never having known a day's illness. 748 00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,920 By profession, I'm an artist. 749 00:32:14,920 --> 00:32:17,920 Not a very successful one, but I earn enough money 750 00:32:17,920 --> 00:32:21,920 by my black and white work to satisfy my necessary wants. 751 00:32:21,920 --> 00:32:25,920 My only near relative, a sister, 752 00:32:25,920 --> 00:32:27,920 died five years ago, 753 00:32:27,920 --> 00:32:29,920 so that there is no one in particular 754 00:32:29,920 --> 00:32:32,920 to whom I address this manuscript. 755 00:32:32,920 --> 00:32:38,920 Only you, who might by chance read it some day, 756 00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:40,920 for because of the peculiar circumstance 757 00:32:40,920 --> 00:32:42,920 about which you will soon hear, 758 00:32:42,920 --> 00:32:44,920 I have the strong premonition that I shall never live 759 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:47,920 to tell anyone about it. 760 00:32:55,920 --> 00:32:57,920 I breakfasted this morning at nine, 761 00:32:57,920 --> 00:32:59,920 as the usual time. 762 00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:01,920 It was no different from any other morning, 763 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:04,920 and after glancing through the morning paper, 764 00:33:04,920 --> 00:33:06,920 I lighted my pipe, 765 00:33:06,920 --> 00:33:08,920 and I proceeded to let my mind wander 766 00:33:08,920 --> 00:33:10,920 in the hope that I might chance upon 767 00:33:10,920 --> 00:33:12,920 some subject for my pencil. 768 00:33:12,920 --> 00:33:16,920 The room, though door and window were open, 769 00:33:16,920 --> 00:33:18,920 was oppressively hot, 770 00:33:18,920 --> 00:33:20,920 and I just made up my mind that the coolest 771 00:33:20,920 --> 00:33:22,920 and most comfortable place in the neighborhood 772 00:33:22,920 --> 00:33:24,920 would be the deep end of the public swimming bath, 773 00:33:24,920 --> 00:33:27,920 and that I would be able to swim there. 774 00:33:27,920 --> 00:33:31,920 Then I...I was suddenly shaken. 775 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:33,920 A feeling swept over me 776 00:33:33,920 --> 00:33:35,920 such as I had never experienced before. 777 00:33:35,920 --> 00:33:38,920 I attempted to rise to my feet. 778 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:40,920 Somehow it seemed as though 779 00:33:40,920 --> 00:33:42,920 I had suddenly been fastened to my chair. 780 00:33:42,920 --> 00:33:45,920 My hand went out in an effort to brace myself, 781 00:33:45,920 --> 00:33:49,920 and then, before I knew what I was doing, 782 00:33:49,920 --> 00:33:51,920 my pencil was in my hand, 783 00:33:51,920 --> 00:33:53,920 and I began to draw. 784 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:55,920 It was as though someone had taken my hand 785 00:33:55,920 --> 00:33:57,920 and was moving it across the paper 786 00:33:57,920 --> 00:34:00,920 swiftly in bold strokes. 787 00:34:00,920 --> 00:34:04,920 And then, eyes seemed to take over. 788 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:09,920 My hand, under its own power, began to draw. 789 00:34:09,920 --> 00:34:12,920 So intent was I on the sketch 790 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:15,920 which began to appear before me. 791 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:17,920 I soon forgot the oppressive heat, 792 00:34:17,920 --> 00:34:20,920 the roughness of the table. 793 00:34:20,920 --> 00:34:22,920 Everything was forgotten. 794 00:34:22,920 --> 00:34:24,920 This frantic feeling, 795 00:34:24,920 --> 00:34:28,920 the sketch must be finished as soon as possible. 796 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:37,920 I had no idea how long I worked 797 00:34:37,920 --> 00:34:40,920 until I heard the clock of St. Jude's in the distance. 798 00:34:43,920 --> 00:34:45,920 It was four o'clock, 799 00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:48,920 and I had started just after breakfast. 800 00:34:48,920 --> 00:34:51,920 Now, for the first time since I'd begun, 801 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:55,920 I actually seemed to see what I'd been sketching. 802 00:34:55,920 --> 00:34:57,920 I was surprised. 803 00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:00,920 The final result was, I felt sure, 804 00:35:00,920 --> 00:35:03,920 the best thing I'd ever done. 805 00:35:03,920 --> 00:35:05,920 It showed a criminal in the dock 806 00:35:05,920 --> 00:35:08,920 immediately after the judge had pronounced sentence. 807 00:35:08,920 --> 00:35:11,920 The man was fat, enormously fat. 808 00:35:11,920 --> 00:35:15,920 The flesh hung in rolls about his chin. 809 00:35:15,920 --> 00:35:18,920 It creased his huge, stumpy neck. 810 00:35:18,920 --> 00:35:20,920 He was clean-shaven. 811 00:35:20,920 --> 00:35:22,920 Perhaps I should say a few days before, 812 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:25,920 he must have been clean-shaven, 813 00:35:25,920 --> 00:35:27,920 and he was almost bald. 814 00:35:27,920 --> 00:35:29,920 He stood there before the judge, 815 00:35:29,920 --> 00:35:33,920 his short, clumsy fingers clasping the rail, 816 00:35:33,920 --> 00:35:36,920 looking straight in front of him. 817 00:35:36,920 --> 00:35:39,920 The feeling that his expression conveyed 818 00:35:39,920 --> 00:35:41,920 was not so much one of horror, 819 00:35:41,920 --> 00:35:45,920 but of utter, absolute collapse. 820 00:35:45,920 --> 00:35:48,920 There seemed nothing in the man strong enough 821 00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:51,920 to sustain that mountain of flesh. 822 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:57,920 And then I saw that the sketch was not complete, 823 00:35:57,920 --> 00:35:59,920 for the man's other hand 824 00:35:59,920 --> 00:36:01,920 seemed to be clutching an instrument of some kind, 825 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:05,920 a weapon, but had not been completed. 826 00:36:05,920 --> 00:36:07,920 I had made this sketch, 827 00:36:07,920 --> 00:36:10,920 yet I had no recollection of what I'd intended 828 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,920 the man to carry in his other hand. 829 00:36:13,920 --> 00:36:15,920 I took my pencil again, 830 00:36:15,920 --> 00:36:19,920 and I attempted to fill in the fuzzy outline. 831 00:36:22,920 --> 00:36:24,920 It was useless. 832 00:36:24,920 --> 00:36:28,920 It was as though my fingers had suddenly turned to lead. 833 00:36:28,920 --> 00:36:30,920 I sat down, 834 00:36:30,920 --> 00:36:34,920 and I felt the moisture slowly forming on my forehead. 835 00:36:39,920 --> 00:36:43,920 And I was conscious of the oppressive heat again. 836 00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:48,920 And then I knew that there would be no finishing of the sketch. 837 00:36:48,920 --> 00:36:50,920 At any rate, not for the moment. 838 00:36:50,920 --> 00:36:53,920 So I rolled up the sketch, 839 00:36:53,920 --> 00:36:56,920 and without quite knowing why, 840 00:36:56,920 --> 00:36:58,920 I placed it in my pocket. 841 00:36:58,920 --> 00:37:01,920 In spite of my peculiar inspiration, 842 00:37:01,920 --> 00:37:04,920 I was filled with the rare sense of happiness 843 00:37:04,920 --> 00:37:13,920 which the knowledge of a good thing well done gives. 844 00:37:16,920 --> 00:37:20,920 I believe that I set out with the idea of calling upon Trenton, 845 00:37:20,920 --> 00:37:22,920 for I remember walking along Lytton Street 846 00:37:22,920 --> 00:37:25,920 and turning to the right along Gilchrist Road. 847 00:37:25,920 --> 00:37:30,920 At the bottom of the hill were the men where it worked on the new tram lines. 848 00:37:30,920 --> 00:37:34,920 From there onward, I have only the vaguest recollection of where I went. 849 00:37:34,920 --> 00:37:38,920 Through parks, along crowded streets, 850 00:37:38,920 --> 00:37:41,920 always fully conscious of the awful heat 851 00:37:41,920 --> 00:37:47,920 that came up from the dusty asphalt pavement as an almost palpable wave. 852 00:37:49,920 --> 00:37:51,920 And I remembered, too, 853 00:37:51,920 --> 00:37:55,920 the hollow sound of my footsteps as I moved along. 854 00:37:55,920 --> 00:37:57,920 Although walking aimlessly, 855 00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:00,920 I somehow knew that there was a goal, 856 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:03,920 something to which I was drawn. 857 00:38:04,920 --> 00:38:08,920 I longed for the thunder promised by the great banks of copper-coloured clouds 858 00:38:08,920 --> 00:38:11,920 that hung low over the western sky. 859 00:38:13,920 --> 00:38:15,920 I must have walked five or six miles. 860 00:38:15,920 --> 00:38:18,920 I've really no idea how far I walked, 861 00:38:18,920 --> 00:38:20,920 when a small boy roused me from my reverie. 862 00:38:20,920 --> 00:38:22,920 Got the time, mister? 863 00:38:23,920 --> 00:38:25,920 Twenty minutes to seven. 864 00:38:25,920 --> 00:38:27,920 Thanks. Hot, isn't it? 865 00:38:27,920 --> 00:38:29,920 Yes. 866 00:38:31,920 --> 00:38:35,920 When he left me, I began to take stock of my bearings. 867 00:38:35,920 --> 00:38:37,920 I found myself standing before a gate 868 00:38:37,920 --> 00:38:42,920 that led into a yard bordered by a strip of thirsty earth. 869 00:38:42,920 --> 00:38:47,920 There were flowers, purple stock and scarlet uranium, 870 00:38:47,920 --> 00:38:51,920 and great numbers of bees droned over them. 871 00:38:51,920 --> 00:38:54,920 I stood looking down at them a moment. 872 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:57,920 Then, for some reason, I looked up. 873 00:39:01,920 --> 00:39:03,920 Over the entrance to the place, 874 00:39:03,920 --> 00:39:06,920 there was a board with the inscription 875 00:39:06,920 --> 00:39:10,920 Charles Atkinson, Monumental Mason-worker, 876 00:39:10,920 --> 00:39:13,920 in English and Italian marble. 877 00:39:13,920 --> 00:39:16,920 WHISTLING 878 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:22,920 From the yard itself came a chilly whistle, 879 00:39:22,920 --> 00:39:24,920 the noise of hammer blows, 880 00:39:24,920 --> 00:39:28,920 and the cold sound of steel meeting stone. 881 00:39:28,920 --> 00:39:30,920 A sudden impulse made me enter, 882 00:39:30,920 --> 00:39:33,920 and I went in the direction of the noise. 883 00:39:34,920 --> 00:39:38,920 There was a man sitting with his back towards me. 884 00:39:38,920 --> 00:39:43,920 He was busy at work on a slab of curiously veined marble. 885 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:45,920 He was not conscious of my presence 886 00:39:45,920 --> 00:39:48,920 as I stood there watching him for some time. 887 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:51,920 Then, without turning, 888 00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:53,920 his hammer stopped in midair 889 00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:56,920 as he was about to bring it down on his chisel. 890 00:39:56,920 --> 00:39:58,920 He looked up, 891 00:39:58,920 --> 00:40:01,920 and then he held his position a moment before turning, 892 00:40:01,920 --> 00:40:04,920 but I knew that he was aware of my presence. 893 00:40:04,920 --> 00:40:08,920 And when he turned, I saw his face. 894 00:40:08,920 --> 00:40:10,920 It was... 895 00:40:10,920 --> 00:40:14,920 Although I had never seen him before, 896 00:40:14,920 --> 00:40:21,920 it was the face of the man I'd been drawing. 897 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:28,920 Yes, it was the face of the man 898 00:40:28,920 --> 00:40:31,920 whose sketch was in my pocket. 899 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:36,920 He sat there on his low stool, huge and elephantine, 900 00:40:36,920 --> 00:40:40,920 the sweat pouring from his scalp, not speaking. 901 00:40:40,920 --> 00:40:42,920 Then he took a red silk handkerchief 902 00:40:42,920 --> 00:40:44,920 and he mopped his brow. 903 00:40:44,920 --> 00:40:48,920 Although this face that looked up at me was the same as my sketch, 904 00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:50,920 the expression was absolutely different. 905 00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:54,920 And suddenly the puzzled expression left his face, 906 00:40:54,920 --> 00:40:57,920 and he smiled as if we were old friends. 907 00:40:57,920 --> 00:40:59,920 And he walked over and he took my hand. 908 00:40:59,920 --> 00:41:01,920 Good day, sir. 909 00:41:01,920 --> 00:41:03,920 Good day. I'm sorry to intrude. 910 00:41:03,920 --> 00:41:05,920 Not at all. 911 00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:07,920 Everything's hot and glary outside. 912 00:41:07,920 --> 00:41:09,920 This seems as an oasis in the wilderness. 913 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:12,920 I don't know about the oasis, but it certainly is hot. 914 00:41:12,920 --> 00:41:14,920 Take a seat, sir. 915 00:41:14,920 --> 00:41:17,920 He pointed to the end of the gravestone on which he was at work, 916 00:41:17,920 --> 00:41:18,920 and I sat down. 917 00:41:18,920 --> 00:41:20,920 Very hot. 918 00:41:20,920 --> 00:41:22,920 It's a beautiful piece of stone you've got held over there. 919 00:41:22,920 --> 00:41:24,920 In a way it is. 920 00:41:24,920 --> 00:41:27,920 The surface is as fine as anything you could wish, 921 00:41:27,920 --> 00:41:31,920 but there's a big flaw at the back, though I don't expect you'd ever notice it. 922 00:41:31,920 --> 00:41:33,920 I shouldn't think so. 923 00:41:33,920 --> 00:41:36,920 I could never really make a good job of a bit of marble like this. 924 00:41:36,920 --> 00:41:39,920 It'd be all right in the summer right now. 925 00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:41,920 I wouldn't mind a blasted heat. 926 00:41:41,920 --> 00:41:43,920 But wait till the winter comes. 927 00:41:43,920 --> 00:41:45,920 Winter? 928 00:41:45,920 --> 00:41:49,920 Yes, there's nothing like a bit of frost to find out the weak points in stone, 929 00:41:49,920 --> 00:41:51,920 and gravestone, you see. 930 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:53,920 Oh, I see. 931 00:41:53,920 --> 00:41:55,920 Then what's this one for? 932 00:41:55,920 --> 00:41:59,920 You'd hardly believe me if I was to tell you it's for exhibition. 933 00:41:59,920 --> 00:42:01,920 But it's the truth. 934 00:42:01,920 --> 00:42:03,920 Artists have exhibitions, so do grocers and butchers. 935 00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:05,920 Well, we have them too. 936 00:42:05,920 --> 00:42:08,920 You're the latest little Edd stones, you know. 937 00:42:08,920 --> 00:42:10,920 He went on to talk of marbles. 938 00:42:10,920 --> 00:42:13,920 Which sort of marble best withstood wind and rain, 939 00:42:13,920 --> 00:42:16,920 and which were easiest to work? 940 00:42:16,920 --> 00:42:21,920 Then of his garden and the new sort of carnation he'd bought, 941 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:27,920 at the end of every other minute he would drop his tools, wipe his shining head. 942 00:42:27,920 --> 00:42:29,920 This heat. 943 00:42:29,920 --> 00:42:31,920 This heat's bad. 944 00:42:31,920 --> 00:42:35,920 A man's not responsible for what he does in this heat. 945 00:42:35,920 --> 00:42:38,920 I said little, for I felt uneasy. 946 00:42:38,920 --> 00:42:42,920 There was something unnatural, uncanny in all of this. 947 00:42:42,920 --> 00:42:45,920 The feeling that I'd experienced it all before, 948 00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:49,920 exactly as I was experiencing it now. 949 00:42:49,920 --> 00:42:51,920 The oppressive heat, 950 00:42:51,920 --> 00:42:54,920 the fragrance of the purple stock in the air, 951 00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:57,920 the conversation about the marble, 952 00:42:57,920 --> 00:42:59,920 the flowers, 953 00:42:59,920 --> 00:43:04,920 everything as though I'd experienced it before. 954 00:43:04,920 --> 00:43:10,920 And yet I knew that I'd never even been in this section of the town before. 955 00:43:10,920 --> 00:43:13,920 I tried to persuade myself that at least I'd seen him before, 956 00:43:13,920 --> 00:43:18,920 that his face unknown to me had found a place in some out-of-the-way corner of my memory. 957 00:43:18,920 --> 00:43:24,920 But I knew that I was practising little more than a plausible piece of self-deception. 958 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:27,920 As I sat there quietly watching him, 959 00:43:27,920 --> 00:43:30,920 he looked up at me and he said... 960 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:33,920 Yeah? What do you think of that? 961 00:43:33,920 --> 00:43:37,920 He said it with an air of evident pride, of a job well done. 962 00:43:37,920 --> 00:43:46,920 I could sense that he was experiencing the same feeling I had experienced when I'd finished my sketch. 963 00:43:46,920 --> 00:43:49,920 Then he got up with a sigh of relief. 964 00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:51,920 What? What ain't it? 965 00:43:51,920 --> 00:43:55,920 I was seated in such a position that I was unable to see his work, 966 00:43:55,920 --> 00:43:58,920 and for some reason I didn't move. 967 00:43:58,920 --> 00:44:02,920 Suddenly he began to read what he'd carved on the tombstone. 968 00:44:02,920 --> 00:44:05,920 He spoke deliberately and with a flat voice. 969 00:44:05,920 --> 00:44:09,920 In the midst of life we are in death. 970 00:44:09,920 --> 00:44:13,920 Born January 18th, 1912. 971 00:44:13,920 --> 00:44:16,920 I looked up with a start. 972 00:44:16,920 --> 00:44:20,920 This man had read my exact birth date. 973 00:44:20,920 --> 00:44:26,920 He passed away very suddenly on August 20th, 1947. 974 00:44:26,920 --> 00:44:28,920 That's today. 975 00:44:28,920 --> 00:44:32,920 I usually use the present date on these exhibition stamps. 976 00:44:32,920 --> 00:44:35,920 Do you usually put a name on them too? 977 00:44:35,920 --> 00:44:37,920 Yes. 978 00:44:37,920 --> 00:44:51,920 Sacred to the memory of James Clarence Wyverncroft. 979 00:44:56,920 --> 00:45:01,920 I just sat there in silence. 980 00:45:01,920 --> 00:45:11,920 The sound of birds and crickets seemed loud in my ears as we stood there, 981 00:45:11,920 --> 00:45:15,920 looking at each other, saying nothing. 982 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:18,920 And then he mopped his brow again. 983 00:45:18,920 --> 00:45:20,920 What? What? 984 00:45:20,920 --> 00:45:23,920 I was finally able to speak. 985 00:45:23,920 --> 00:45:26,920 Where did you see that name? 986 00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:28,920 I didn't see it anywhere. 987 00:45:28,920 --> 00:45:32,920 I wanted some name and I put down the first one that came into my head. 988 00:45:32,920 --> 00:45:37,920 It's a strange coincidence, but it happens to be mine. 989 00:45:37,920 --> 00:45:43,920 That's your name? You're James Clarence? 990 00:45:43,920 --> 00:45:46,920 Wyverncroft, yes. 991 00:45:46,920 --> 00:45:48,920 Wow. 992 00:45:48,920 --> 00:45:54,920 And the dates? 993 00:45:54,920 --> 00:45:57,920 I can only answer for the birth date. It's correct. 994 00:45:57,920 --> 00:46:01,920 Oh. It's a... 995 00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:04,920 It's a run-go. 996 00:46:04,920 --> 00:46:06,920 I... 997 00:46:06,920 --> 00:46:08,920 I made a sketch this morning. 998 00:46:08,920 --> 00:46:10,920 Of you. 999 00:46:10,920 --> 00:46:14,920 Of me? What, you've never seen me before? 1000 00:46:14,920 --> 00:46:16,920 No. 1001 00:46:16,920 --> 00:46:20,920 Oh. Oh. 1002 00:46:20,920 --> 00:46:24,920 I took my sketch from my pocket and I showed it to him. 1003 00:46:24,920 --> 00:46:27,920 As he looked, the expression on his face altered, 1004 00:46:27,920 --> 00:46:32,920 and it became more and more like that of the man I had drawn. 1005 00:46:32,920 --> 00:46:35,920 It was only the day before yesterday 1006 00:46:35,920 --> 00:46:40,920 that I told Mariah there was no such things as ghosts. 1007 00:46:40,920 --> 00:46:44,920 Neither of us had seen a ghost, but I knew what he meant. 1008 00:46:44,920 --> 00:46:46,920 Then I spoke to him. 1009 00:46:46,920 --> 00:46:49,920 You probably heard my name someplace. 1010 00:46:49,920 --> 00:46:52,920 Yes. You must have seen me somewhere and forgotten it, huh? 1011 00:46:52,920 --> 00:46:54,920 Yes. 1012 00:46:54,920 --> 00:46:58,920 Were you at Clacton-on-Sea last July? 1013 00:46:58,920 --> 00:47:01,920 No. 1014 00:47:01,920 --> 00:47:04,920 Now I've never been to Clacton in my life. 1015 00:47:04,920 --> 00:47:06,920 Oh. 1016 00:47:06,920 --> 00:47:08,920 Then we were silent for some time again, 1017 00:47:08,920 --> 00:47:11,920 and we stood there looking at one another 1018 00:47:11,920 --> 00:47:14,920 and at the two dates on the gravestone, 1019 00:47:14,920 --> 00:47:17,920 and the birth one was right 1020 00:47:17,920 --> 00:47:21,920 and the other was today. 1021 00:47:21,920 --> 00:47:24,920 Come inside and have some supper. 1022 00:47:38,920 --> 00:47:41,920 His wife was a strange little woman 1023 00:47:41,920 --> 00:47:45,920 who was pallid with the look of those who lived their lives indoors. 1024 00:47:45,920 --> 00:47:48,920 Her husband introduced me as a friend of his who was an artist 1025 00:47:48,920 --> 00:47:51,920 and informed her that I was staying to supper. 1026 00:47:51,920 --> 00:47:56,920 I spoke, making some comment that I hoped I would not be an intrusion, 1027 00:47:56,920 --> 00:47:59,920 and she looked up at me. She said... 1028 00:47:59,920 --> 00:48:03,920 You have a pleasing voice, Mr. Wythencroft, 1029 00:48:03,920 --> 00:48:06,920 and you're welcome in my home. 1030 00:48:06,920 --> 00:48:19,920 I'm sorry Charles has not brought you here before. 1031 00:48:19,920 --> 00:48:22,920 Very little was said during the meal, 1032 00:48:22,920 --> 00:48:26,920 and after the sardines and watercress had been removed, 1033 00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:28,920 she walked over to a cupboard, 1034 00:48:28,920 --> 00:48:31,920 and she took down a thin, black book, 1035 00:48:31,920 --> 00:48:35,920 and as she handed it to me, she spoke. 1036 00:48:35,920 --> 00:48:43,920 Would you read aloud, Mr. Wythencroft? 1037 00:48:43,920 --> 00:48:50,920 Puzzled, I looked down at the book which she'd opened and placed before me. 1038 00:48:50,920 --> 00:48:55,920 It was a very tiny book, a prophet, it was called, 1039 00:48:55,920 --> 00:49:01,920 by an author unknown to me with a strange eastern name, Khalil Gibran. 1040 00:49:01,920 --> 00:49:05,920 My eyes fell across the page, 1041 00:49:05,920 --> 00:49:12,920 and suddenly I was reading aloud as she'd asked me to. 1042 00:49:12,920 --> 00:49:15,920 Then Almitra spoke, saying, 1043 00:49:15,920 --> 00:49:20,920 We would ask now of death, and he said, 1044 00:49:20,920 --> 00:49:23,920 You would know the secret of death, 1045 00:49:23,920 --> 00:49:28,920 but how shall you find it unless you seek it in the heart of life? 1046 00:49:28,920 --> 00:49:33,920 The owl whose night-bound eyes are blind unto the day 1047 00:49:33,920 --> 00:49:36,920 cannot unveil the mystery of light. 1048 00:49:36,920 --> 00:49:40,920 If you would indeed behold the spirit of death, 1049 00:49:40,920 --> 00:49:45,920 open your heart wide unto the body of life, 1050 00:49:45,920 --> 00:49:53,920 for life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one. 1051 00:49:53,920 --> 00:50:01,920 In the depth of your hopes and desires lies your silent knowledge of the beyond, 1052 00:50:01,920 --> 00:50:08,920 and like seeds dreaming beneath the snow, your heart dreams of spring. 1053 00:50:08,920 --> 00:50:15,920 Trust the dreams, for in them is hidden the gate to eternity. 1054 00:50:15,920 --> 00:50:19,920 Your fear of death is but the trembling of the shepherd 1055 00:50:19,920 --> 00:50:24,920 when he stands before the king whose hand is to be laid upon him in honor. 1056 00:50:24,920 --> 00:50:27,920 Is the shepherd not joyful beneath his trembling, 1057 00:50:27,920 --> 00:50:31,920 that he shall wear the mark of the king? 1058 00:50:31,920 --> 00:50:37,920 Yet is he not more mindful of his trembling? 1059 00:50:37,920 --> 00:50:44,920 For what is it to die, but to stand naked in the wind, and to melt into the sun? 1060 00:50:44,920 --> 00:50:50,920 And what is it to cease breathing, but to free the breath from its restless tides, 1061 00:50:50,920 --> 00:50:56,920 that it may rise and expand, and seek God unencumbered? 1062 00:50:56,920 --> 00:51:02,920 Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing. 1063 00:51:02,920 --> 00:51:08,920 And when you have reached the mountaintop, then you shall begin to climb. 1064 00:51:08,920 --> 00:51:15,920 And when the earth shall claim your limbs, then shall you truly dance. 1065 00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:36,920 When I looked up, Mr. Atkinson had gone, but his wife stood before me. 1066 00:51:36,920 --> 00:51:40,920 And as she took the book, she spoke. 1067 00:51:40,920 --> 00:51:45,920 Oh, thank you. 1068 00:51:45,920 --> 00:51:50,920 Then I went outside, and I found Atkinson sitting on the gravestone and smoking. 1069 00:51:50,920 --> 00:51:52,920 He looked up at me. 1070 00:51:52,920 --> 00:51:56,920 He thought, what? 1071 00:51:56,920 --> 00:52:02,920 A man's not responsible for what he might do in this heat. 1072 00:52:02,920 --> 00:52:07,920 Eh, she never asked anyone to read aloud before. 1073 00:52:07,920 --> 00:52:11,920 And then we talked about the sketch again. 1074 00:52:11,920 --> 00:52:12,920 He looked at it. 1075 00:52:12,920 --> 00:52:16,920 A likeness is me, all right. On trial. 1076 00:52:16,920 --> 00:52:22,920 You must excuse my asking, but do you know of anything you've done for which you could be put on trial? 1077 00:52:22,920 --> 00:52:26,920 Yes, I've done nothing. Not yet. 1078 00:52:26,920 --> 00:52:32,920 He got up, fetched a can from the porch, and he began to water the flowers. 1079 00:52:32,920 --> 00:52:35,920 Twice a day, regular in the yurt weather. 1080 00:52:35,920 --> 00:52:38,920 And then he'd sometimes get the bed of the delicate ones. 1081 00:52:38,920 --> 00:52:43,920 And ferns? Good Lord, they could never stand it. 1082 00:52:43,920 --> 00:52:45,920 Where do you live? 1083 00:52:45,920 --> 00:52:47,920 I told him my address. 1084 00:52:47,920 --> 00:52:50,920 It would take an hour's quick walk to get back home. 1085 00:52:50,920 --> 00:52:55,920 Then he stopped watering, and he faced me squarely. 1086 00:52:55,920 --> 00:52:59,920 It's like this. We look at the matter straight. 1087 00:52:59,920 --> 00:53:04,920 If you go home tonight, you're taking a chance of accidents. 1088 00:53:04,920 --> 00:53:06,920 A cock may run over you in this. 1089 00:53:06,920 --> 00:53:11,920 Or was banana skins and orange peels to say nothing of falling ladders? 1090 00:53:11,920 --> 00:53:18,920 He spoke of the improbability with an intense seriousness that would have been laughable six hours before. 1091 00:53:18,920 --> 00:53:20,920 But I did not laugh. 1092 00:53:20,920 --> 00:53:24,920 The best thing we can do is for you to stay here till twelve o'clock. 1093 00:53:24,920 --> 00:53:27,920 Then it'll be tomorrow, do you see? 1094 00:53:27,920 --> 00:53:30,920 We'll go upstairs and smoke. 1095 00:53:30,920 --> 00:53:34,920 Phew. It may be cool out inside. 1096 00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:37,920 To my surprise, I agreed. 1097 00:53:44,920 --> 00:53:52,920 We are sitting in a long, low room beneath the eaves. 1098 00:53:52,920 --> 00:53:59,920 Atkinson has sent his wife to bed. 1099 00:53:59,920 --> 00:54:11,920 He himself is busy sharpening some tools and a little oilstone, smoking one of my cigars. 1100 00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:14,920 The while. 1101 00:54:14,920 --> 00:54:23,920 And as I look at my sketch before me, I suddenly see the fuzzy outline of what the man in the picture holds in his hands. 1102 00:54:23,920 --> 00:54:29,920 While I had not been able to sketch it before, I am able to do so now. 1103 00:54:29,920 --> 00:54:40,920 It is a chisel, and it is stained with dark liquid. 1104 00:54:40,920 --> 00:54:43,920 The sketch is completed now. 1105 00:54:43,920 --> 00:54:49,920 The air seems charged with thunder, and I hear it in the distance. 1106 00:54:49,920 --> 00:54:54,920 It is ominous, but it carries the hope of rain. 1107 00:54:54,920 --> 00:55:00,920 Perhaps this damnable heat will be broken soon, and the day will soon be over. 1108 00:55:00,920 --> 00:55:08,920 It is close to twelve. In seconds, the day will be over. 1109 00:55:08,920 --> 00:55:14,920 I am writing this at a shaky table before the open window. 1110 00:55:14,920 --> 00:55:40,920 The leg is cracked, and Atkinson, who seems a handy man with his tools, is going to mend it as soon as he has finished putting an edge on his chisel. 1111 00:55:40,920 --> 00:55:46,920 There. It is twelve. 1112 00:55:46,920 --> 00:55:56,920 The day is over, and I shall be going home. 1113 00:55:56,920 --> 00:56:15,920 But the heat is stifling. 1114 00:56:15,920 --> 00:56:35,920 This heat is enough to send a man mad. 1115 00:56:45,920 --> 00:57:05,920 This is Robert Montgomery again, with thanks to Barry Kroger and Dennis Hoey for superb performances in August Heat, and to Mel Dennelly, who adopted W.F. Harvey's story. 1116 00:57:05,920 --> 00:57:12,920 Our appreciation and our applause, too, goes to the cast of both plays who made our weather experiments so very successful. 1117 00:57:12,920 --> 00:57:21,920 Next week, we'll turn a full hour's attention again to the English scene and to Emlyn Williams' great play, Night Must Fall. 1118 00:57:21,920 --> 00:57:36,920 You'll meet Mrs. Bramson, Olivia Grain, and Hubert Lorry, and you'll meet Danny, Danny with the quick smile, happy, cheerful Danny, whose appearance is as pleasant as the melody that's always with him. 1119 00:57:36,920 --> 00:57:55,920 Mighty like a rose, that's Danny. Yes, that's Danny. 1120 00:57:55,920 --> 00:58:08,920 Next week, with Dame May Witty, Heather Angel, Richard May, and myself, and with Night Must Fall, we'll again hope to keep you in suspense. Good night. 1121 00:58:08,920 --> 00:58:26,920 Mr. Montgomery may currently be seen in the Universal International Production, Ride the Pink Horse. Wet Saturday by John Collier was adapted for suspense by Harold Medford. August Heat by W.F. Harvey was adapted for suspense by Mel Dennelly. 1122 00:58:26,920 --> 00:58:38,920 Both were directed by Anton M. Leder and produced by Robert Montgomery. Lud Gloskin is our musical director and conductor, and Lucian Morrowak composes the original scores. 1123 00:58:38,920 --> 00:58:55,920 Next week, here, Night Must Fall, starring Robert Montgomery with Dame May Witty, Heather Angel, and Richard May on radio's outstanding theater of thrills, one hour of suspense. 1124 00:59:08,920 --> 00:59:29,920 A program you won't want to miss. That's Report Card, the next production of the famed CBS documentary unit. Overcrowded schools, out-of-date equipment, and a shortage of trained teachers. 1125 00:59:29,920 --> 00:59:43,920 All of these are contributing to a breakdown in American education. For a dramatic report, here, Report Card, Wednesday, March 24th, over many of these stations. This is CBS, where 99 million people gather every week, the Columbia Broadcasting System.